Eco Friendly Property Renovation

HugoSP · 13 May 2006 at 2:15PM

Are there any members who can give me more tips on this approach?

I am in the middle of my 2nd long term property renovation.

This time I am keen to either reuse or recycle as much as possible, even down to storing water used t wash out the cement mixer to use in the mix the following day.

So far I have paid attention to the following:

Timber that is taken out is recycled for firewood or shuttering depending on its condition. Some of it has been affected by woodworm and dryrot, so I have to be careful where and hw I store it. I am about to fit a device that allows my solid fuel boiler to contribute directly to my otherwis gas fired central heating.

Metals taken out get sorted according to type and taken to the scrap yard about 1 mile away. I get a few quid for this, which is nice

Rubble is also taken to a chap abou a mile away who is levelling off some land. I can tip it free of charge as well

As I said above, water is reused whenever it is pracical.

Freecycle org has contibuted a handful of materials. Last week I picked up a bag of sand and some render bead.

I recently got permission via a friend to remove several fixtures and fittings from a house that is being refitted. These included a top quality stylih bathroom suite (£2500 worth), really nice cloackroom suite, designer light fittings, ceramic kitchen sink and virtually new carpets. The owner is saving money in labour that would otherwise be spent in removing these items.

As a result our utility room and cloackroom is likely to cost us less than £100 to fit out, and the bathroom will need only tiles, flooring and a shower rail.

Stuff I take out and don't want but is still useable gets sold off, if it has a value (for example an unwanted pot bellied stove), or given away if it just has a use, like those metal framed windows.

In a previous smaller renovation of a 1 bedroom cottage I tiled the kitchen using designer tiles, for the princly sum of £2.50. A chap was closing down his bathroom and tile shop and had reduced most of his stock down to half price. Some was reduced further and some was simply put outside with a sign saying "Help yourself for charity". There I found what appeared to be a number of end of range boxes of 4 inch tiles. I took all of these and put some cash in the box. I've used all the tiles of one style on that property, getting my OH to decide which colours went well together. I have some more of a different style that will be used in this property. The cost of tiling that kitchen was worked out by dividing the total contribution to charity by the proportion of the tiles I used on that job.

H

starlite_2 · 13 May 2006 at 2:40PM

Firstly I am very jealous..I'd love to do restoration for a living but at the moment am just trying to restore our humble victorian built flat to its former glory..

Do you have reclaimation yards near you? You can sell or buy a wealth of things via them.
I love wandering around those places, we got solid oak bannisters for £10 each!
They also have reams of tiles, fireplaces, floorboards,

starlite_2 · 13 May 2006 at 2:48PM

as an example..
our shared hallway had an amazing original tile mosaic on the floor, but as the building is now split into a few flats and many of us have babies we found them too slippery and so decided to remove them,.
we got advice as removing original features can reduce property value, but found replacing with period wood flooring would be just fine.
we sold the tiles to our local rec. yard and they gave us enough solid oak floorboards (original, just better condition than the ones we revealed!) to cover the whole halls/ stairways,
which my o.h and myself and two others did over a weekend (with lots of beers, radio on etc)
We also got about £600 cash for the trade in..

HugoSP · 13 May 2006 at 5:10PM

We do have reclamation yards but I have to admit the one I used to use seemed very expensive.

My main business is doing work for other people. I found a yard near me who are quite reasonable. They also gave me a good price for a number of sash weights we removed. The sashes were shot and we're on a quietish but main road. As much as I don't like UPVC double glazing for this house, it has made a huge difference to both the noise levels and heating bills.

Currently we have a large fire surround to sell/dispose of. It was in a one bedroom cottage and was obviously not an original feature. It was only when we got it stripped that we saw how bad the rot damage was, otherwise I may have just binned it. The cottage is a 19 century minor's cottage, but the fireplace looks like it came out of a much larger place built in the early 20th century

H

HugoSP · 15 May 2006 at 10:39PM

.....add a few other sources of stuff I have used - the tip.

I sourced a wrought iron gate with vertical bars for £5, and a bedroom fire, albeit without its integral cast iron mantlepiece for £10.

Local school needed some blocks taking away. A childrens' playground had had this blockwork wendy house taken down. Someone had thought it was a good idea to allow a couple of students to erect this as a project but the head teacher then decided it had to go. It had already been demolished but needed removing from site. I had a couple of trailer loads of used but good blocks and 4 reinfirced concrete lintels.

Relative decided to redo her kitchen and decided that a large stand alone sink/cooker unit just had to go. I did wonder whether the trip up to London was worth going to get it but I went anyway. We have since stored it in our current house and we eventually decided to use it in our new kitchen. It was only recently that we realised it is the Bulthaup freestanding unit, made completely from stainless steel. I don't know how much they are to buy new but one with a ceramic hob went on e bay for over £1500!

H

Eco Friendly Property Renovation

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